The present invention relates to a holder for supporting a rotary circular cutting blade such as a saw blade for an electric circular saw.
Prior art circular saws include a fixed flange fitted over drive shaft and havng an annular support on which a saw blade is mounted, and a removable flange fixed by a screw axially to the drive shaft with the saw blade sandwiched in position between the fixed and removable flanges. The drive shaft has a distal end projecting axially beyond the annular support. To remove the saw blade, the screw is unfastened to detach the removable flange, then the saw blade is axially displaced along the drive shaft away from the fixed flange until the saw blade clears the projecting end of the drive shaft, and finally the saw blade is pulled away across the drive shaft. For attachment of the saw blade, it also needs to be axially carried along the projecting drive shaft before reaching the fixed flange. The circular saws have a protective cover assembly including movable and fixed cover members which are deep enough to accommodate such axial displacement of the saw blade when the latter is to be removed or attached. The protective cover assembly is therefore large in size, making the circular saws relatively heavy. The circular saws also include a base to be held against a workpiece, the base having an opening in which the saw blade is rotatable and which is wide enough to allow the saw blade to be axially moved during attachment or detachment thereof. The wide opening in the base renders handling of the circular saw awkward especially when cutting off narrow workpieces.